SPIRITS OF THE SEASONS

I've been looking for fairies and spirits associated with the seasons, but - despite the popularity of an idea of fairies with Summer and Winter courts - it has been hard to find a definitive list. Consequently, I've started this one.

​Spring and autumn creatures are harder to pick out, as traditionally in folklore the seasons boil down to a battle between summer and winter. For spring I'm focusing on stories that deal with the end of winter/beginning of summer, and for autumn on stories about the harvest.

Winter

Barbegazi: ​In Swiss and French tales, these furry little men lived in the mountains and sometimes warned of avalanches. Their long beards were full of ice, and they used their large feet as snowshoes or skis.Cailleach Bheur: a Gaelic deity who appears as an old woman. Her staff freezes the ground. She rules over the winter. On February 1, when she gathers firewood, it is said that bad weather means she is asleep and the winter will not last much longer. Another name for this character type is the ​gyre-carlin.Father Frost (Ded Moroz, Ivan Morosov): A Russian character who probably originated as a cruel snow demon. Some stories have him as an evil sorcerer who froze people, took children away in a sack, or a blacksmith who wrought chains of ice to freeze water and kill plants. This softened over time. After the Russian Revolution, New Year's replaced Christmas and a much more benevolent Ded Moroz (and his sidekick, Snegurochka) replaced St. Nicholas.Frost Giants (Hrimthurses): Norwegian giants.General Winter: the personification of Russian winter, often credited with failures by other armies to invade - they were stopped by the cold winter. Similar is "General Mud" ("rasputitsa").The Ice Saints are not really a personification, but in a few European countries, cold nights have specific names. Since the feast days of St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatius fall on these days (May 11-13), they are known as the ice saints. In Poland, the three saints are "cold gardeners." Germany has St. Sophia, or Cold Sophia. Jack Frost: in folklore, a sprite who painted patterns of frost on windows and painted the leaves different colors in the fall. The personification of freezing cold weather. Jultomten: Sweden's word for Christmas elves - Yule tomten.Justa kuguza and justa kuba: The "cold old woman and man." Cheremis frost spirits. The old woman would spitefully use an ice needle to sew doors closed on freezing nights. Justa Erge or Justa Erbeza (Cold Boy, Cold Child) was another member of the icy family. The invisible child's voice could be heard in the wailing wind, and when human children went outdoors, he would nip their fingers and toes. He would also bounce a wooden ball on the roof and doors.Kallikantzaroi and other winter demons enter houses wreaking havoc in the days between Christmas and New Years (December 25 to January 6, during the winter solstice). Also karakondzuli, Romanian. Known in Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Turkey. Kolivilor: Albanian demons who appear during the 12 nights of winter. They can be warded off with fire.Merry dancers, nimble men – Gaelic terms for the northern lights. Nimble men comes from "na fir-chlis," or "the nimble ones," and merry dancers is more properly mirrie dancers. They might sound jolly and fun, but they’re actually warriors whose battles are known to leave blood on the ground.

Mother Holle (Frau Holle): a Teutonic winter spirit, who appears as an elderly crone. She lives in the sky shakes out her feather bed to create snow. She is also associated with spinning. In France, she was known as Marie au Ble. She is likely related to the goddess Holda or Perchta, who leads the Wild Hunt.​Old Man Winter: the personification of winter.Red Nose and Blue Nose.In the Russian fairy tale ofThe Two Frost Brothers, Brother Claus of the crimson nose (older), and Brother Christmas of the blue nose have a contest where they try to freeze people. The older one freezes a rich man, but the blue-nosed younger one fails to freeze a poor man.Schiachperchten: ugly perchts, evil Germanic spirits of darkness and winter. Related to the goddess Perchta.They are opposed by the schonperchten, beautiful perchts. Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden): A Russian fairytale which has also been developed into an opera. Peasants create a snow child which comes to life, but later melts while playing with her friends. In the opera, gaining the ability to love is what melts her. In the modern day, a variation of the character shows up as the granddaughter and companion of Father Frost.The Snow Queen: the character created by Hans Christian Andersen. She was cold and sterile; Andersen also wrote a story about the Ice Maiden, who was an unpredictable force of nature. Uldra: In the folklore of Lapland, the uldras were little people who lived underground and emerged during the winter to feed the hibernating animals.The Wild Hunt: When people heard the winter wind howl, they said that it was the evil spirits known as the wild hunt or terrible host. There are many other names for them, including the Wildes Heer, oskorei, or jolerei (emphasizing a connection to Christmas).Yuki-Onna: An eerie Japanese snow spirit who appeared as a pale woman. A similar but more benevolent figure was the Tsuraraonna.Yule Lads (Jolasveinar): ​a troop of small, malevolent Santa Claus-like figures

Spring

​Fantines, masques: benevolent fairies of the Vaudois Valley in Switzerland. Fairies of nature and agriculture, who bring good crops and ring bells to keep cattle from getting lost in the woods.Granny March (Baba Marta). Bulgarian: a grumpy old woman with mood swings, capable of bringing sunshine or creating blizzards. (March is the "female" month in this tradition.) In some stories she lives with her brothers, Big Sechko (January) and Small Sechko (February) high in the mountains. March 1st is a holiday where people exchange martenitsa made of red and white thread.​A similar character is Baba Dochia, but in that story, Baba Dochia is more clearly the winter, vanquished so that spring may begin - similar to the Cailleach.Jack in the Green (Green George) - May Day celebrations may feature a person or an effigy covered completely in garlands. He may also appear in other springtime celebrations, and pulls pranks. For some reason, he is associated with chimney sweeps.May Day is a significant day for fairy activity.The May Queen: a figure associated with spring and summer. At May Day celebrations, one girl is chosen as the May Queen. Symbolizing purity and innocence, she wears a white dress and a flower crown. In the High Middle Ages she was also known as the Summer Queen.This developed from the older tradition of the Lord and Lady of the May. Maid Marian and Friar Tuck are folklore characters also associated with this celebration. also Today the May Queen is a girl who must ride or walk at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. ​Schonperchten: ​Austrian spirits, beautiful perchten, spirits of spring.White Dwarves or Subterraneans (Unterirdischen): According to Thomas Keightley, the dwarves of the island of Rügen​ in the Baltic Sea live underground through the winter. The White reemerge in spring when the flowers bloom, to live aboveground during the warm part of the year.​ They are skilled craftsmen, creating beautiful delicate works in silver and gold. At night during the warm months, they play beautiful music. They are also known to take the forms of birds or butterflies. There are also Brown Dwarves and Black Dwarves, with the black ones being the most sinister.

Summer

According to Eva Pocs, summer festivals and noontime were associated with ghosts and the dead in many Mediterranean countries. Many fairy species are said to live underground during winter and emerge during the warm months.​Behir, beithir: Scotland. A cave spirit with lightning and snake associations. Sighted in stormy lightning summer nights. Included in the evil spirits known as Fuath.Gremlins: ​aircraft-attacking goblins of the early 20th century. They hibernated in winter, and were most active on hot afternoons. (Gillian Edwards, ​Hobgoblin and Sweet Puck​)Havfrue: the Danish mermaid. According to Thomas Keightley, fishermen sometimes see her sitting on the water's surface and combing her hair on misty summer days. Similarly, the Neck or Nokke (a river spirit) is seen on the water's surface on summer nights.​The Hyakki Yagyo: ​in Japanese folklore, these are one hundred yokai who come out on summer nights.Lady Midday (Mittagsfrau, Poludnica, Pscipolnitsa, the Noon Witch): In Russian and other traditions, the personification of heat stroke was a woman (young or old) dressed in white who would appear in the fields. She might appear in a dust cloud and carry a scythe or shears. She caused aches in the neck or madness; she might confront people and ask them questions, then strike them down with heat stroke. Similar characters, who kidnap children, are the Roggenmuhme ("lady of the rye"), the Regenmöhme, or the Kornwief ("woman of the corn").​A Midsummer Night's Dream: Shakespeare's famous play is set at the height of summer and features many fairy characters including Robin Goodfellow.Rusalki, as Bulgarian water nymphs, are associated with Midsummer.The Sea Mither - An Arcadian personification of the benevolence of the sea. The Sea Mither was a being who granted life, calmed storms, and brought the warmth of summer. In some stories of Greenland and Denmark, bad deeds in the form of litter and sludge will tangle in her hair. She constantly fought Teran, the spirit of winter.Sînziene, Sânziană​: Romanian. These are good summer fairies, among the category of spirits known as the Iele. They appear at the summer solstice or Dragaica Day. Sanziene is also the name of a Romanian flower, called the Lady's bedstraw.Soksa Kuba and Soksa Kuguza – “warmth old woman” and “warmth old man,” benevolent spirits in Cheremis lore. They oppose the Justa Kuba and Justa Kuguza.Will o' the Wisps: ​In some countries, they are said to appear at Midsummer or on St. John's Day. Early autumn is the best time to follow them on a treasure hunt.

Autumn

Halloween is a significant time for fairy activity.

Baw-waw-gi: Algonquin. The goddess of autumn. Her younger sisters are Bi-bon (winter), Sig-wan (spring) and Ne-bin (summer).​Colt pixie: English folklore. A fairy that appears in the shape of a horse and leads people astray. In Dorset dialect, to pixy or colt-pixy meant to beat down apples after the harvest was over - i.e., to take fruit left for the pixies. In Somerset Folklore, Ruth Tongue speaks of an Apple Tree Man or Lazy Lawrence, who guarded the orchard and could petrify or give cramps to apple thieves. The accuracy of Tongue's work, however, has been called into question. Similar spirits would be Auld Goggie, the terrifying guardian of orchards and unripe gooseberries, and Melch Dick and Churnmilk Peg for unripe nuts.Feldgeister or Korndämonen are German corn spirits, sometimes also wind spirits. The last of the grain or harvest is usually left as a sacrifice for them. Otherwise, the spirit is killed or trapped by cutting the last cornstalks and fashioning them into a corn doll.Sometimes they appear as a carnivorous beast, such as the roggenwolf (rye wolf), or hoofed animals like pigs, bulls, and goats (the kornbock). The Roggenmuhme or rye aunt is a terrifying female corn demon who chases children and roams the fields - not unlike the sunstroke demon known as Poludnica. The Bilwis is another corn spirit, which sometimes comes in the form of a wind to steal grain from the harvesters.Jack Frost, ​in addition to his winter duties, is supposed to paint the leaves red in fall.Jievaras: a Lithuanian spirit of the grain fields, who lived in the last uncut rye. Perhaps the same as the Old Rye-Woman described in "The Golden Bough."Lunantishee: ​An Irish fairy that guards blackthorns, and won't allow them to be cut on the first of May or November. Mother Žeminyke: Lithuanian spirit of the harvest. Paradise birds: ​half-bird, half-woman. On the Russian feast called Apple Savior Day, the sirin mourns the end of summer, but the alkonost gives the apples their flavor.

Pisky threshers: ​In some stories, piskies either help or hinder the harvest.Polevik: ​a Russian field spirit.​Pooka: ​The pooka and other fairies run wild on Halloween, and will spoil all blackberries either after Halloween or Michaelmas (September 29).​Will o' the wisps: ​Best seen on early autumn evenings.

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